New Jersey’s Office Parks Empty as Christie Bolsters Cities

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is championing cities as the next big employment market, showering them with almost $1 billion in incentives at the expense of his suburban political base.

Amid slumping New Jersey job growth, Christie’s administration this year has awarded $1.24 billion in Grow New Jersey tax breaks to companies to expand, with four-fifths directed to such places such as Jersey City or Camden, one of the country’s poorest and most crime-ridden cities. Left behind are bedroom communities that rose on such employers as Bell Laboratories, now splintered, and Merck & Co., its Whitehouse Station world headquarters closed.